The Reappearance of Rachel Price By Holly Jackson is a mystery novel about a girl named Bel and how her mom has been missing for sixteen years. When Bel was two years old, her mother, Rachel Price, went missing, and no one has seen her since.
At the novel’s beginning, which takes place many years later, Bel is eighteen. A film crew wants to shoot a documentary about Rachel’s case. Bel and her father said yes, and the director, Ramsey Lee, started the filming process. When the filming begins, Bel meets the actress who will be playing Rachel in the documentary. Her name is Jenn. After meeting Jenn, Bel runs home frustrated at Jenn because she is a spitting image of her mother, While running home she spots something in the distance and soon realizes that it’s not Jenn; it’s her mother, Rachel Price walking on the sidewalk with the same clothes she claimed to be wearing the day she went missing, a red long sleeve t-shirt and black jeans. Bel goes up to Rachel, starts talking, and brings Rachel to her home. When Bel and Rachel get to Bel’s home, Bel calls her Dad, and he goes right home. He sees Rachel and calls the cops, saying she is back home.
When Rachel starts getting used to her new life, everyone asks where she has been for sixteen years. Rachel claimed she was kidnapped by some guy with an unknown name. After Rachel is done saying this, Bel starts to get suspicious. Then Bel starts to think that Rachel is lying. So Bel starts her own investigation with a guy on the film crew, Ash. Bel starts looking through Rachel’s room and her phone. Then Bel’s Dad goes missing and Rachel acts like it’s not a big deal. About a week after Bel’s Dad goes missing, Bel’s family has a birthday party for Bel’s grandfather, and then Bel finally solves Rachel’s case and finds her Dad.
This novel is great if you like challenging mysteries and untold family secrets. But there are a couple of things I wasn’t a fan of. The author, Holly Jackson, could have described the characters better; only Rachel was described well. I also didn’t like how the novel was written. It was written in 3rd person limited (meaning the “narrator” tells the story and you only know one person’s thoughts). I wish this novel would have been written in 1st person (meaning one person tells the story and can only hear that person’s thoughts). In the end, I rate this novel as 8/10.
